William and Mary (5-2-1, 1-1 CAA) waited through a two-day rainstorm to get back on the field against Towson, so what would another 30 minutes matter?
The Tribe tied Towson 1-1 after going into double overtime against Tigers at the Warhill Sports Complex Friday. The match, which left the College 1-1 in the CAA standings, was held at the Warhill complex due to heavy rainstorms over the past two days that made the surface at Albert-Daly Field unplayable.
“I think in the end the draw was a fair result,” Head Coach Chris Norris said. “We were a little disappointed obviously after scoring what I thought was a good goal early to give up a deflected goal. I thought we did a pretty good job dealing with those attacking players.”
Sophomore midfielder Ben Anderson drew first blood in the match, scoring on a header in he 11th minute off a pass from senior defender Michael DiNuzzo from eight yards out for his first collegiate goal. Anderson’s goal was the culmination of an attack which started with a long cross from freshman forward Roshan Patel crossing the ball in front of the box.
DiNuzzo cleaned up the rebound from Patel’s cross and served the ball into the box, where Anderson would head the shot into the top right corner of the box to make the score 1-0.
“They did a better job as the game wore on closing us down in midfield,” Norris said. “The field today is a little bit smaller than what we’re used to. It is ten yards shorter, six to eight yards narrower than what we’re used to. And that made a difference, definitely.””
Towson evened the contest in the 30th minute when forward Olakunle Banjo knocked in a deflection off Tribe senior goalkeeper Andrew McAdams to even the score at 1-1.
With the exception of Banjo’s goal, the College did a good job tracking back and defending against potent Towson attacks.
“We had a specific job for [senior back] Nick Orozco today to really sit in and anchor our midfield. I thought he did a very good job in that,” Norris said. “The players in the back did a good job [as well].”
The Tribe’s best chance to pull ahead came in the second overtime with 3:30 remaining when senior midfielder Nat Baako found sophomore midfielder Caleb Thomas on the right side. Thomas settled the ball and ripped a shot on frame, but the ball banged off the crossbar and went out of play.
With the tie with the No.5 in the South Atlantic Region Tigers, the College moves to 1-1 in CAA play with their next match coming up at home versus Georgia State on Wednesday.
